Today we went to the Yacktman Pavilion and saw Dr. Aljadeff my Pulmonary specialist. Today we reviewed my results from the sleep study and pulmonary function tests. My pulmonary function tests came back pretty good, everything was good but my expiratory flow and muscle ability is non existent. As you know The Vest system was working really well for us but we had to send it back because the insurance wouldn’t touch it and MedTronic advises against heavy vibration of the Baclofen pumps. So we are going to have to resort to a slightly more invasive method, the Respironic’s Cough Assist.

The Respironic’s Cough Assist can be considered to be in the same class of device as ventilators. It is considerably similar to a ventilator in the way it forces air into the lungs and then takes it back out. However, the Cough Assist is not designed to breathe for you, it is designed to cough for you. It slowly pushes air in inflating the lungs to a specified pressure. Then it sucks all that air out really quickly. So I guess you could say the Cough Assist sucks and blows.

The sleep study is where things get more disappointing. My Oxygen levels were getting as low as 93% which me and the doctor think may be a component of my really horrible sleep quality. So my doctor and I have decided that I should start using Oxygen at night to help my system work better in my sleep. We should be getting the Oxygen gear delivered soon.

As usual I will keep you all up to date.